千娇百媚

千嬌百媚
qiānjiāobǎimèi
idiom

Meanings

  1. 1 bewitchingly charming (of a woman)
  2. 2 graceful and alluring in countless ways

Examples

Tā shēn chuān hànfú, qiānjiāobǎimèi.
Dressed in hanfu, she looked bewitchingly charming.
Mǔdān huā kāi, qiānjiāobǎimèi.
The peonies bloom in a thousand graceful charms.

Tips

history
Earliest attested in the Southern dynasties poet Xu Ling's : '绿红颜两相' (kohl-blue brows and red cheeks set each other off; a thousand charms, a thousand poses, ceaseless feeling).
usage
Almost always describes women's beauty or, by extension, flowers. Modifying a man would sound effeminate or mocking. (thousand) and (hundred) here just mean 'countless' — the structure XY (, ) is a common idiom pattern.

Stroke Order

qiān
jiāo
bǎi
mèi